Tag archives: cannabis
We are the residents of Linden Meadow in Carpinteria, a community of 40 homes immediately adjacent to the greenhouses located at 4801 Foothill and 1495 Sterling Road in Carpinteria. For the last few years, we have been regularly subjected to the heavy, skunky odors of cannabis growing in the greenhouses surrounding our area. The smell […]
I am writing to strongly oppose the appointment of Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams to the Coastal Commission. My personal experience with Supervisor William’s development and oversight of cannabis regulations, in SBC, has demonstrated to me and many others that he has failed to uphold the laws to ‘Protect Public Health, Safety, Welfare and […]
On Monday, March 16, Santa Barbara Interim Police Chief Barney Melekian issued a statement responding to a March 12 Los Angeles Magazine article that raised allegations of corruption and undue influence involving Anthony Wagner, the department’s public information officer, who previously helped run the city’s cannabis dispensary licensing process. Melekian’s announcement stated that he was […]
If we’ve learned anything from the “post-truth” era in which we find ourselves, it’s that substantiated facts are critical to productive public discourse. Allegations and aspersions must be legitimately corroborated. This is the only way to emerge into what will hopefully become a post post-truth era. Across our nation there remain countless fires still smoldering […]
Earlier this month, Barney Melekian, Santa Barbara County’s former assistant executive officer for public safety, left his County job to become interim police chief for the City of Santa Barbara, replacing retiring Chief Lori Luhnow. One of Melekian’s key roles for the county was overseeing enforcement of the county’s legal cannabis industry. Replacing Melekian in […]
This week I’m taking the opportunity to sound off from my soapbox, since the lead item on the Summerland’s popularity vote “yea” or “nay” for a cannabis dispensary in town, which ran a few weeks ago, created quite a little stir that resulted in three letters to the editor printed over three issues. First, I […]
Transmission Lines Need to Go An article by Rinaldo S. Brutoco in the 10-17 September issue of the paper addresses an alternative to P.G.&E’s destructive high voltage transmission lines. His solution is called an “interconnected microgrid network” and it does not need the dangerous transmission lines to operate. There is no question that these lines […]
Strictly Speaking In response to Mr. Dale Lowdermilk’s erudite letter comparing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and those for skin cancer dangers, just this: The draconic measures described for combatting skin cancers are useful warnings that people can adopt for their own protection. Fortunately, cancer is not contagious. Therefore, everyone has the option of following […]
Has Summerland ‘Spoken’? The front-page “hook” for the Summerland cannabis dispensary article repeats a statement from a Summerland Citizens Association email regarding the survey results (which I reject outright). While eye catching, it is not a fair presentation of the facts and could lead a reader to infer that Summerland has “spoken” (another exaggerated claim […]
Decisive Opposition to New Dispensary Despite 70 percent of Summerland voters in the state election voting in favor of marijuana legalization, residents and business owners are overwhelmingly against the establishment of a cannabis dispensary in town. So says a recent survey with a sample that comprises 25 percent of residents and almost all business owners […]
Dear James During one interview with Howard Stern, Donald Trump opined that avoiding STDs was his own personal Vietnam. At that time Donald Trump claimed he dated (you do not need a definition of “dating” here) a lot of beautiful women. Remember what he said about Carly Fiorina, Megyn Kelly, or his comment about Miss […]
The Truth About Kelp I read with interest Mr. Zach Rosen’s article on Chris Goldblatt’s reef project. I am uncertain if Mr. Rosen was obtaining his information from Chris, but his initial statements are inaccurate under any circumstances. First, El Niño events are directly correlated with warm waters and heavy rainfall. Not, “droughts” as he […]
Purely Pathetic Due to my lack of wizardry with IT, my missive was printed under Bob Handy byline, my husband of 62 years. We did not mind, but if you reply do not refer to me as Mrs. Handy. Just call me Danute. Now about your missive. Yes, Donald Trump is a misogynist. For confirmation […]
Ever since the Santa Barbara Grand Jury issued its damning report last month on the explosion of cannabis cultivation in Santa Barbara County, a widening ripple of reaction has circled around Carpinteria, Goleta, and Buellton, where residents hope the controversy will aid their efforts to curtail the industry. As the Montecito Journal reported last week, […]
Our County… Our Black Hole So, Bari Weiss (NYT Op-ed writer/editor) recently resigned. What I found sad about her departure was her self-described truth: “Twitter is not on the masthead of the NYT… but it has become its ultimate editor.” This unfortunate reality is even more acute in Santa Barbara where the flames of legitimate […]
Purely Political Mr. James Buckley is a True Believer. When Donald Trump descended the escalator and announced his candidacy for president of USA, he declared that he is racist, misogynist, and antiimmigrant. For good measure he declared soon after, that he can kill somebody on Fifth Avenue, and it would not change any vote from […]
Das Williams, Santa Barbara’s First District Supervisor, suddenly found himself under a harsh, almost Perry Mason-style cross examination during a July 13 interview with Steve Chiotakis, host of KCRW’S Greater L.A. radio talk show. “Your campaign contributions come from pot lobbyists trying to grow weed,” Chiotakis scoffed at one point. “And look, it’s legal, yeah, […]
On June 30, Santa Barbara’s Grand Jury released an historic, scathing report detailing alleged official malfeasance by the Board of Supervisors as it sought to regulate cannabis over the past three years, particularly in Carpinteria but also in North County wine country. By law, the report mentioned no names and took no stand on the […]
Right Side of History As I read the LA Times coverage of the independent SB Grand Jury’s scathing report on the unethical way our cannabis policy came to be, I had one silver lining thought: “Thank goodness the Montecito Journal had the wisdom – and guts – to be on the right side of history […]
You might recognize the Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis from various letters to the editor and reader-submitted editorials that have run in the Montecito Journal, Carpinteria’s Coastal View News, and other local newspapers in Santa Barbara county. Although the group claims not to oppose cannabis per se, its members have consistently decried what they […]
